


emotions r 4 losers & nerds

by Potoo



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Happy, I mean it. This is basically fluff and dialogue that tries to be funny., M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 09:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1299472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potoo/pseuds/Potoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>or: "The 5+1 Times Gavroche Sees Combeferre"</p><p> </p><p>It isn't easy having a prepubescent Gavroche as your little brother. Courfeyrac bears witness to that when he falls in love with Combeferre and Gavroche does <i>not</i> agree with... basically everything that entails.</p>
            </blockquote>





	emotions r 4 losers & nerds

**Author's Note:**

> Around a year ago, right after the movie came out, this fic was written. Someone came up with the idea "but what if! Gavroche was Courfeyrac's adoptive brother in an AU?" because they were so close in the movie adaption.  
> It's been sitting on my computer half-finished for months and I finally managed to finish it. The old draft was fundamentally reworked and there's very little left of the original draft... but hey. Whatever. 
> 
> Gavroche's POV. 
> 
> This is probably the happiest and fluffiest thing I have ever written and will ever write, so enjoy.

The first time Gavroche sees him, they're kissing.  
Which is totally disgusting.

Not because they're two guys. Only assholes think two guys kissing is disgusting. They're being super disgusting because kissing generally is really gross. They're making weird wet sloppy noises, and Gavroche is frozen where he stands inches away from the doorframe. If he stepped forward now, they'd see him. Immediately. Well, he supposes, probably not, since they're absolutely caught up in each other.

‘God,’ says the man Gavroche doesn't know when they finally pull apart, ‘Courfeyrac, you're-’  
Courfeyrac shushes him with another kiss; softer, gentler, but Gavroche knows his brother well enough to be very aware of the passion beneath it.

Super disgusting. Grown-ups are really fucking weird. And his brother is probably the weirdest of them all.  
When Gavroche grows up, he's sure he won't waste his time trying to suffocate an innocent guy with his tongue. The unknown guy actually moans. Gavroche decides it's time to put his foot down and ruin his brother's day.  
He breaks into a run, tackles Courfeyrac's legs and pretends he hasn't seen the stranger yet. ‘Courfiiiie, Courfiiiie, let's play!! There's this new Playstation game I-’

‘Gavroche,’ groans his brother but it's decidedly not the groans he usually hears from his bedroom. ‘Can't you see I'm-’

‘Who's that!!’ Gavroche crows and points at the stranger, whose face flushes. He's not very pretty, Gavroche thinks. Courfeyrac's friend Enjolras is really pretty, even if he isn't very funny. If he wants to actually seriously fall in love with someone, he should fall in love with Enjolras, Gavroche has decided very early on. But this guy doesn't seem either funny or pretty.  
Courfeyrac sighs before he messes up Gavroche's hair (yesterday: a bird's nest, today: a bird's nest, tomorrow: a bird's nest). ‘Combeferre, this is my pest of a little brother.’ Gavroche smiles and proudly shows his tooth gaps. ‘Gavroche, this is Combeferre. Do you remember Enjolras?’

‘Sure I remember Enjolras and his pretty, pretty hair!’ Gavroche replies happily.  
‘Yeah, pretty hair, that's Enjolras alright. Combeferre is Enjolras' best friend. We decided to study together today.’ Courfeyrac winks, but the other man keeps his silence.

Gavroche looks at him with curiosity in his eyes. Enjolras is so much cooler. Combeferre takes a pair of glasses out of his pocket, puts them on and clears his throat. What a nerd. Gavroche narrows his eyes.  
‘Study what, sex? Don't think you need to know that for uni.’ Gavroche replies, his usual amusement laced with faint hostility.  
‘Oh, you'd be surprised,’ Courfeyrac answers, laughing.  
‘You better leave!’ Gavroche tells Combeferre, and within one second, Courfeyrac's laughter vanishes. ‘You two studied 'nough. I wanna play with my brother now.’ He raises his chin.  
Combeferre regards him warily.

No way he's gonna stay. Every person Courfeyrac has ever dared to bring home left when Gavroche told them so. He's the spoiled little brother, the apple of Courfeyrac's eye, and nobody wants to get in his bad books.  
‘Courfeyrac?’ Combeferre says instead of leaving, turning towards him. ‘Accompany me to the door?’  
Courfeyrac sighs in exasperation, shrugs, and pats Gavroche on the head. ‘Little fucker,’ he tells his brother who grins widely. The two men leave. There will probably be a farewell kiss. Gavroche doesn't want to see that, so he stays in Courfeyrac's room.

Gavroche waits five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes.

He draws some obscene drawings into one of his brother's books before sprinting out of the room. There's a post-it on the door. The writing on it is neat and elegant, very unlike Courfeyrac's sprawling hand.  
‘My apologies for abducting your brother like this. He won't be gone too long. I promise you'll have him back in five hours. Look down.’  
Gavroche does. There's a bar of chocolate resting on the small table in front of the door, next to the bowl Courfeyrac always throws his keys into.

He can allow this kind of bribery, Gavroche thinks as he tears open the foil around the chocolate, just this once. He won't run after them and look for them.

He doesn't care.

-

The second time Gavroche sees him, Courfeyrac kisses him softly. They're holding hands and are obviously waiting to pick up Gavroche from school.

Disgusting.

‘What the hell, bro,’ Gavroche asks as soon as he reaches them, with his bag slung over his shoulder and his gaze fixed on Courfeyrac. ‘What's he doing here.’  
Combeferre smiles indulgently and Gavroche wants to punch that smile. He adjusts his glasses. ‘Don't worry, I'm just about to leave you two to it.’ Courfeyrac pouts at him and kisses him again, which prompts Gavroche to roll his eyes, but soon, Combeferre makes true on his promise and leaves them.

Three years ago, Gavroche would've taken Courfeyrac's hand. Now, obviously, he doesn't. His classmates can _see_ him and either way, he's way too cool for childish shit like that now. So they walk side by side to the metro station.

‘How was your day? Horrible?’ Courfeyrac asks, obviously in a good mood. Gavroche doesn't deign an answer to that question. Every day at school is both horrible and extremely fun and Courfeyrac should know that by now.

‘I don't like him. He's not good enough for you.’ he says instead and that makes Courfeyrac's grin falter. ‘He is a treacherous, pompous, ugly, _dis_ gusting piece of shit. You deserve better. What about Enjolras instead? He's pretty and funny and pretty funny.’ Even though he isn't, Gavroche is prepared to lie to his brother to keep him from making such a stupid mistake.  
It seems Courfeyrac hasn't heard this constructive suggestion. He sighs. ‘Gavroche, there is no need for such accusations. Everything you just told me is a lie. Did you know, for example, that Combeferre is training to be a doctor?’

‘Ohhh, wow. I bet he digs up corpses at night and...’ Gavroche stops because that actually sounds way too cool for a loser like Combeferre. ‘...then leaves them lying there because he's probably too much of a coward to handle a skeleton.’

That makes Courfeyrac chuckle. ‘You're impossible.’

Gavroche beams up at him. ‘That's right!!’ he chirps cheerfully before growing serious again. ‘Now, back to the topic at hand. Ditch him. Even if you don't think Enjolras is pretty, I'm sure there's a thousand other boys much better than Combeferre. He's not even brave enough to take home the corpses he digs up!’

‘Gavroche,’ Courfeyrac sighs as they enter the station, ‘why don't you get to know him better? He's very friendly and very funny.’

Gavroche shakes his head violently.

He doesn't care to know Combeferre.

-

The third time Gavroche sees him, they're not kissing.  
Thank God.  
Nope: they're having dinner. Which is, admittedly, an improvement, but not by much, because when they were kissing, Courfeyrac was unable to talk. Now, there's little else he does, and Gavroche feels like throwing up. He's obviously trying to woo the nerd. Gavroche doesn't really get why (Enjolras is still **so** much cooler, hell, even that dork Marius is cooler than Combeferre, if only marginally) and he is a bit perplexed.

His brother isn't shy about romantic pursuits. There's been various persons in the tiny flat they share, men and women and some Gavroche wasn't quite sure about, not that it matters. And Courfeyrac is always very suave with these people, charming, yes, smooth and he always knows exactly what to say.  
But now he stutters. His big brother stutters, he trips over his words in his excitement, he blushes and that's not only the wine's work.  
What kind of horrifying parallel world has Gavroche tumbled into? (Granted, he shouldn't really be here. This is a high-class restaurant with approximately sixty million Michelin stars and he really shouldn't be hiding under the table next to his brother and the loser. But Gavroche will do what he must to protect his brother from a horrible mistake, and besides, the food he's stolen from the kitchen is exquisite.)

This is absolutely terrible.

‘-don't think I've ever met anyone like you.’ his brother says as he leans forward. The food on both their plates seems to have been forgotten long ago; Combeferre stares at his wine instead of at Courfeyrac. What an idiot, seriously. ‘You're brilliant, you're sharp, you're so, you're really really funny, and, and, that's not the best, I mean-’  
Has Courfeyrac transformed into Marius overnight? He seems to be hardly able to breathe from excitement!

Even Gavroche could seduce this loser better than Courfeyrac. He's ashamed of his bro, but apparently, it works, because that's the moment Gavroche notices Combeferre's cheeks are tinted with a soft pink. Idiots deserve each other, probably.  
‘Oh, come on, stop...’ he protests weakly, and Courfeyrac grabs his hand. Gavroche rolls his eyes and almost groans.  
‘But you need to know.’ Ah, Gavroche thinks, that's his brother. He can't help but cheer for him.  
‘It must seem silly for a rational man like you, since we've met only a week ago, and I bet you get to hear that from any guy you smile at, but I am absolutely blown away.’  
Combeferre murmurs something, and Gavroche is too far away to hear, but his brother's slightly red cheeks turn crimson and he laughs so loudly other guests turn towards them.  
‘Fucking hell, Combeferre, really?! Are you joking?’  
‘Maybe a bit,’ Combeferre answers, looks straight at Courfeyrac, and this time Gavroche can't suppress a groan. His brother's smiling widely, his eyes are glazed over, and this stupid expression could be found in the dictionary right next to ‘lovestruck’.  
Courfeyrac's fingers brush over Combeferre's palm, but now that they've established eye contact, it doesn't seem they'll let go of it anytime soon. The rest of the conversation takes place in the form of whispers and affectionate glances, and Gavroche is reduced to listening to nonsensical snippets.

He decides to leave, crawls out from under the table and grabs a piece of the lobster an old lady and her grandson (or her lover, who is Gavroche to judge) are having, and raises his cap in the direction of his brother and his date, who both look at him absolutely dumbfounded.  
‘Have a nice evening,’ he tells them, ‘if you have need of me, I'll be at Po's, watching cartoons like the ignored, forsaken child I am.’ He bows mockingly. ‘Our neighbour just came home with her newborn kid, so don't be too loud tonight. The brat wants to sleep in peace.’  
They will be loud, Gavroche is very sure of that, and grateful he can flee for tonight.

Courfeyrac stands up. ‘Gavroche, come on!’ he begins to say, but Gavroche has already fled the sickening scene. If he truly wishes to win him back, he better call Eponine tonight.  
Not that Gavroche would know. He likes the girl, one of the very few people he likes, but tonight he's going to roam the streets.

Alone.

He doesn't care. He doesn't care.

-

The fourth time Gavroche sees him, it's barely a few hours later.  
Gavroche isn't stupid. He's not heartless either. Courfeyrac looked very worried. Gavroche himself had a great night. Their cozy suburban neighborhood is a fine place to hang out at by night. He's a difficult child, he knows that, and he knows that the people he was told to call parents were always very, very worried about him when he would disappear into the night and reappear in the early morning hours; the first time, they searched for him with flashlights and dogs, only to find him sitting at the breakfast table and eating his cereal.

Over the years, Courfeyrac must've gotten used to this, and he must've learned that you don't need to worry about Gavroche. He hides well and he fights better, although he rarely must do either, and he would fight Courfeyrac if he didn't allow him to simply lose himself in the streets then and again. Gavroche is almost twelve years old, for God's sake, he'll be an adult in no time. Not yet, though, which is why he's holding a cup of bitter coffee in his hand, not to drink it himself – ew! – but as a kind of peace offering for his brother, and opens the door to Courfeyrac's room.

The first rays of sunlight fall through the window. Gavroche's eyes automatically travel to Courfeyrac's bed, and he realizes Combeferre has accompanied Courfeyrac home. He frowns immediately. What a jerk! They're sleeping peacefully, Courfeyrac is snoring lightly, entangled with Combeferre's limbs. They're both naked, but most of their bodies are hidden by Courfeyrac's blanket, thank God. They're still _very_ disgusting, but they could be even more disgusting, so Gavroche won't complain.

They look serious. Gavroche can imagine them twenty years from now lying in bed just like this.

He's not disgusted anymore, but angry, all of a sudden.

‘Wake up!’ he tells Courfeyrac, but he doesn't wake. Instead, his words have two unintended effects: Courfeyrac snores louder and Combeferre opens his eyes. Gavroche's stance immediately changes, his shoulders tense and his gaze grows dark.  
So does Combeferre's gaze.  
‘Gavroche,’ he says quietly, remnants of sleep evident in his tone, ‘do you have any idea how worried we were?’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Gavroche snaps back. His cheery nature will be back immediately, he swears, but this guy has no right to meddle with his life. Combeferre should leave them alone. He has no place here. ‘Courfie isn't worried.’ He adopts an ironic tone to fool himself into not taking any of this shit seriously. ‘He knows I can take care of myself. And you weren't worried either because we're not friends and you got no reason.’

Gavroche steps closer. Courfeyrac stirs.

‘We're not friends, you're right. But I _would_ like to get to know you better, Gavroche.’ Combeferre replies sickeningly genuine, in a soft, gentle voice. Loser, Gavroche thinks and is irrationally angry.

‘I don't need you, nobody needs you, least of all Courfeyrac,’ Gavroche quickly replies.  
‘Wha,’ Courfeyrac groans as he hears his name and lazily opens one eye.

Gavroche pours the hot coffee over Combeferre's arm and dashes out of the room.

He does care, he realizes.

-

The fifth time Gavroche sees him, he's standing in the doorway and watching them.  
Courfeyrac just tackled him to the ground after Gavroche tried to leave the house and Combeferre just stands there, with tousled hair and his arms crossed in front of his chest. 

Gavroche struggles and fights against Courfeyrac, but ultimately Courfeyrac is bigger and heavier and stronger and he _hates_ it. ‘The hell, Gavroche! What'd you do that for?’ He's wearing nothing but his underwear now, red boxers with poodles printed on. They're outside and Gavroche begins to laugh; if anyone were out this time of the morning, they would certainly jump to some very _hilarious_ conclusions.  
Courfeyrac immediately joins in his laughter and soon lets go of him, which allows Gavroche to jump up and dust himself off. Courfeyrac stays on the cool ground of the steps leading to their front door and looks up at him. Gavroche might almost forgive him, he thinks as he looks down at him like this.

Forgive him for what, his mind asks. Spending time with someone else? He's never had a problem with that before. Spending time with a loser? But that's Courfeyrac's fault and none of Gavroche's business, really.

‘Are you going to run away again?’ Combeferre calls from the door with a smile and an angry red patch of skin on his arm. Oh. Right. The coffee. ‘We can look for you again, but I'd like a coffee first. And I'd like to _drink_ it, if possible.’  
Courfeyrac looks at him and the expression on his face makes something in Gavroche's stomach turn.  
‘You looked for me?’ he asks quiet enough for only Courfeyrac to hear. His brother nods. Somewhere in the distance, the sun has come up fully and illuminates Courfeyrac's face in brilliant streaks of gold and red.  
‘I know you can take care of yourself,’ he says and reaches up to take Gavroche's hand. Gavroche doesn't complain (and that's huge). ‘But you seemed upset, so I wanted to talk to you. But we didn't find you, I should've known.’

Gavroche stays silent and nods in Combeferre's direction. Courfeyrac begins to smile. ‘He insisted to go with me. Said it was all his fault, that he should have been more _considerate of your needs_.’

Gavroche nods in acceptance. ‘What a dork,’ he manages to say in a strained voice. Courfeyrac smiles widely up at him. The losers _looked_ for him and Combeferre thought he had hurt Gavroche's feelings or shit like that. Fucking losers, seriously.

Gavroche shrugs and steps over Courfeyrac to get back into the house. He needs some breakfast to handle those incredibly ridiculous lovebirds being _worried_ about him, he thinks, and oh, maybe he should apologize to Combeferre for giving him third-degree burns? That can wait until after breakfast. No need to hurry things, he decides while the two men trail after him, Courfeyrac pleased and Combeferre slightly confused but just as pleased.

‘You care,’ Gavroche says without turning to look at Combeferre. ‘You care about me.’

 

He turns around to look at Combeferre.

 

The sixth time Gavroche sees him, Combeferre is nodding.

‘I care about you.’ he says in a stupidly severe tone.

Gavroche pats him on the shoulder and delivers his verdict. ‘You're okay.’

That has three effects:  
Combeferre smiles a very private smile at him.  
Courfeyrac squeals, hugs Combeferre tightly and kisses his cheeks and his jaw and his lips.  
Gavroche snorts, rolls his eyes and grins widely.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading, I hope you had a good time. It's not so easy to write from the POV of a young boy: concrit is always welcome. :)


End file.
